Establishment of PNP Daegu Branch, the World's Largest Startup Incubation Organization... Hong Jun-pyo Signs Business Agreement in the US

Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu (center in photo), is holding a certificate with company officials after signing a business agreement related to the establishment of the PNP Daegu branch in the United States.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Koo Dae-sun] As the first schedule of CES, Daegu City signed an MOU with Plug and Play Tech Center (PNP), the world's largest venture capital and startup incubation organization, on January 5 at 10 a.m. local time at the Flamingo Hotel conference room in Las Vegas to foster global venture startups.

PNP is a leading startup accelerator in Silicon Valley, USA, having discovered and invested in over 1,600 companies including 35 unicorn companies such as PayPal, Dropbox, and LendingClub. Recently, it has also become an innovation platform operating more than 60 open innovation programs worldwide in collaboration with global corporations like Mercedes-Benz and Facebook.

The main contents of this agreement include operating cooperative programs to support the global expansion of Daegu startups, sharing ABB industry trends and running open innovation programs for fostering future information and communication technology (ICT) industries, holding innovation workshops for technology transition targeting Daegu regional companies seeking corporate innovation, and expanding successful partnerships through the establishment of a PNP Daegu branch.

For the global program, PNP will be directly involved from the selection stage to assess companies' capabilities for global expansion. Selected companies will receive mentoring and workshop programs from carefully chosen experts through PNP's global mentoring network.

In the final stage, a demo day will be held by inviting global investors, supporting overseas investment strategy formulation and business collaboration. Outstanding companies will be granted privileges such as participation in PNP global events and registration on PNP’s startup platform, "Playbook," to ensure continuous exposure to global markets.

Additionally, to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies in the region to participate as PNP’s global cooperation partners, joint corporate innovation workshops will be held, ABB industry trends will be shared, and open innovation programs for fostering future ICT industries will be operated, continuously expanding the scope of cooperation.

PNP is reviewing the establishment of a Daegu branch in the near future, and Daegu City will actively cooperate by providing administrative support such as space.

Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu, who attended the signing ceremony, said, “We will actively support the growth of local venture startups into unicorn companies and the well-established development of Daegu’s advanced industrial ecosystem through cooperation with PNP, a representative global startup support organization.”